James McCaffrey III poses for a picture in the floral department of his newest supermarket in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. McCaffrey is celebrating 40 years in the retail food business.

It’s been more 40 years since Jim McCaffrey III opened his first store — a deli in North East Philadelphia. Although the company grew into full service supermarkets, his dedication to providing fresh, top quality products and exceptional service remains the same.

McCaffrey, who started working in grocery stores as a college student, recalls catering an event and forgetting to bring a knife to slice the bread. He had to go to a competitor to borrow a knife.

“I always tell that story to my employees,” he relays. “It’s all about the details. If you forget one detail, it screws everything up.”

McCaffrey and his son Jim McCaffrey IV have certainly paid attention to the details in their two newest stores, which opened within just a few weeks of each other. Simply Fresh by McCaffrey’s, a new small store concept for the company, opened in Doylestown in late June, and a new full-size McCaffrey’s Market opened July 22 in Blue Bell.

At 52,000 square feet, the Blue Bell store is the company’s largest location. The building formerly housed a Super Fresh and a Clemens Market in the past. It required extensive remodeling and the building posed some design issues.

The store was dark and contained a narrow section that previously housed other store fronts. McCaffrey’s opened up that section, removed dark beams and completely gutted the store to make everything new.

The result is a unique, remodeled store featuring McCaffrey’s signature departments along with some new additions. The coffee bar, named Java Jim’s, offers coffee from a local roaster. The Cheese Shop features more than 400 types of cheese from all over the world. McCaffrey’s partners with Bruno Brothers, a small specialty retailer in Philadelphia, to buy the cheese and train its cheese mongers. The produce department, designed to look like a farmer’s market, features many locally-grown products, including fresh greens from McCaffrey’s partnership with acquaponic-grower BrightFarms in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

The company continues to operate a central kitchen facility where all its prepared foods and many baked goods are made and delivered every night. Having dedicated chefs make the food off-site allows the company to control the quality and provide consistent products to all of its stores.

A crepe station is new addition to the prepared foods area where chefs create savory and sweet crepe recipes for customers. They are very skilled at making delicious, quality crepes quickly.

McCaffrey’s purchased a restaurant license for the store, so it offers a bar with seating. Shoppers can sit down to order from 12 different kinds of craft beer or a glass of wine. A Tapas menu is available to order as well. In addition, a Beer pub offers seating for 60 next to a nice selection of beers for purchase. McCaffrey will purchase an expanded wine permit, once its available, to offer wine for purchase. Outside, a patio offers more seating.

This store houses the company’s first dedicated catering office. Shoppers can plan their entire party at the store from the seating and tableware to the food, custom cakes and flowers.

In Doylestown, McCaffreys offers a scaled down version of all the company’s best departments in a 13,000 square foot store.

“We think this concept will work well in upscale neighborhoods where there’s not room for a big box,” McCaffrey explains. “It’s been well received.”

After 40 years, McCaffrey is still passionate about the supermarket business. His son Jim McCaffrey IV joined the business five years ago after a 13-year career as a police officer. He serves as the company’s vice president and brings his own ideas and perspective to the business.

“It’s such a pleasure working with him,” McCaffrey says.

McCaffrey now operates six stores in Blue Bell, Doylestown, Newtown and Yardley, Pennsylvania, and Princeton and West Windsor, New Jersey. He says the company will plan to open new stores in the future.

“When my son joined the company five years ago, I promised we would grow the company,” he says. “Competition is fierce, but I still see opportunities to grow.”

McCaffrey also has hope that another generation might be interested in joining the family business some day. His grandchildren, Grace, 9, and grandson Jim V, 3, will grow up in the industry. Now that’s a legacy to celebrate.